14

We've had a fun and busy week.  Monday morning, I got some grocery shopping done and tried to get some pumpkins to carve, but Walmart and Brookshires were both out of pumpkins!!!  Dan managed to get some on his way home, so the kids were still able to carve pumpkins for FHE that night.  They had a great time, and I had fun walking up and down the block with David to look at Halloween decorations.  

Tuesday was a typical day, David and I had a nice morning and the kids had a good day at school.  In the evening, i had institute and that was it - I was beat! 

Wednesday was Halloween - but it was a rainy day.  :(  It drizzled/rained/poured all day long.  I watched a friend's daughter for her while she had her doctor's appointment, she's a sweet little girl, and she fell asleep near the end.  I made some lunch for my friend since she had to fast for the doctor's appointment, and we had a nice time eating and chatting together.  After dinner and scriptures, we set off around the neighborhood ready to pass out candy - and thankfully, the rain let up just enough for trick-or-treating!  It was still chilly, but the kids had a good time.  The neighborhood was just full of kids walking around with their families!  Our last neighborhood had plenty of people handing out candy, but not a whole lot of kids trick-or treating, so it was fun to have so much of the neighborhood out and about to meet with and chat with!  After making the rounds, we headed home for a good nights sleep.  The kids all wore the same costumes as for the party last week, but David looked so cute and ready to go!  He was so happy to get to walk around the neighborhood, but didn't really care about the candy.  He LOVED a big inflated, moving black can on someone's lawn.  He kept crouching down and growling at it!  It was so cute and so funny!  Plus he didn't want to leave it!

Thursday was a nice quiet day for recovery!  And a bit of a crazy kid day after all the excitement.  I had choir in the evening which was wonderful - then home and to bed!!! 

Friday was Eileen's birthday.  I can't believe that my oldest daughter is 14.  She is really an amazing young woman.  She wanted a Voltron cake for her birthday, so Dan made that for her Thursday night, and she wanted Chicken Roll-ups and brussel sprouts for dinner.  She got a cute shirt from us and a really cute skirt from Grandma and Grandpa Jones.  All in all, it was a nice evening. 

Saturday was rather crazy busy.  In the morning, The girls and I set off for the church for a women's 5K run.  They were giving out Tiaras for the first 60 people - and Anna wanted one, so we headed over a little early.  Then we did the 5k.  Anna heard that they were giving out sashes to the first 3 places and she really wanted one, so she headed out strong and managed to be the 3rd finisher!!  She was so amazing!  Evelyn also did a great job!  I walked with Eileen and we walked and chatted the whole way, we fell in with another sister near the end and finished last together :)  We had a fun breakfast together, then headed home.  At noon, we headed back to the church for a baptism for the daughter of some of our friends, then we got home in time to get things ready for family coming over.  

My parents and Sandi and her kids came over to celebrate Eileen and Mom's birthdays.  We had a yummy lunch followed by opening presents.  Eileen got a bow and arrows and target and she was so excited!  She wants to be an archer.  :)   After, we had cake, then Dan took Eileen to go shoot for a bit, then we all just had a fun afternoon playing and chatting and the kids had a blast riding bikes in front of the house.  James finally started riding his two wheeler!  He still needs a bit of help to get started, but once he gets going, he does great!!  He is so proud of himself!  

This is just a cute picture of David after baths.  :)  

Church was wonderful.  The testimonies were wonderful, the lessons were wonderful!  After, we were all starving and ready for dinner!!  It was a wonderful day for fasting together as a Stake and fasting for a purpose. 

Jam and Stake Conference

We've had an adventurous week!  On Monday, we went and had FHE with the Hendricksons.  We went to their house to have some fun shooting their bows and had some fun yummy treats.  Eileen loved it.  

This is David just chillin' in the cute little rocking chair that Grandpa Cox made once upon a time.  He loves having a little chair of his own! 

Wednesday was a fun day of running errands and making chili for the ward activity.  We had a Fall Festival with costumes and yummy food and games and lots of fun! 

The rest of the week was the usual school and fun.  We finally got clear enough weather for David and I to get some walks in. 

Saturday was rather busy.  We started the morning by making Jam - Sandi and the kids came up to help out and play.  We got a bunch of stuff canned - it's so good to have home made jam again!!!  My parents also came up to take Anna out for ice cream.  Then after she got back, We took all the kids - including Sandi and her kids - to the Anna Festival.  It was lots of fun - the kids ended up with insane amounts of candy.  Sandi and I had some fun doing karaoke and Anna won a pumpkin painting contest!  The kids had a blast on the bounce houses and rides and I had fun chatting with some friends from church!

After, we got the kids home and got them dinner just in time to need to leave for Stake Conference.  It was wonderful with some great talks given - but Dan and I were both exhausted and hungry.  After, we went to the malt shop with some friends from the ward and got some dinner.  That helped some, but we were still ready to crash when we got home - despite that, Dan was sweet and told me to get ready for bed while he finished off the last batches of the jam. 

Today was also wonderful - Stake Conference was great!!  David was well and done by the end since he was moving into nap time, but he did pretty well.  After, we went home for lunch and I worked with Anna - teaching her how to sew and make an outfit for her doll, and Eileen and Dan made rolls to eat with our homemade jelly!  We had fun playing games and jumping on the trampoline and got in some scripture study and napping - all in all - it was a wonderful day! 

Need more Sleep....

It's been a great but crazy week!  Monday was the usual laundry and school and such.  We had a great FHE lesson together and spent the evening folding laundry. 

Tuesday, I had an appointment to get my hair trimmed.  David was great - he was a happy little guy the whole time, After that I grabbed a bit of lunch, then I went down to pick the sister missionaries up from a meeting and drive them home.  Then it was time to head back to get the kids from school.  After picking them up, I took Evie and James to piano lessons, then Eileen and  Anna had a special youth broadcast with Elder Holland.  While they had that, I went to Institute. 

On Wednesday, we had a basic day - Anna was supposed to have a re-scheduled cross country meet - but because of rain it got cancelled again - and it's for good this time.  :(  Anna really enjoyed cross country though!  In the evening, I took Aaron and Evelyn to the church for Cub Scouts and Activity Days.  I think they all had a great time.  The girls didn't have a youth activity since they had the broadcast the night before.  

Thursday Dan had a work dinner and I had choir, so Eileen and Anna were left in charge for a little bit.  Choir was great, it's crazy to think how close we are getting to the concert!!  

Friday I needed to get some errands run.  David and i hit Walmart - it was sprinkling when we went it, but POURING when we left.  We needed to get some groceries, and we got dinner started (we were making ribs so we needed to start them early) Then we had some friends over for dinner and games.  We had a great time!  

We had a nice busy Saturday, the weather was actually kinda nice for once, so there were lots of walks and jumping on the trampoline and playing around.  Then in the evening Dan took the girls down to the temple.  They got back just in time to read scriptures and put the younger kids to bed.  

Today was great!  We had a nice quiet morning of scripture reading and game playing and walking around the block (David loves to go on walks, but he also loves to stop and look at everything!)  Church was wonderful - the talks were really wonderful and the lessons were too!  

Long Weekend

So the kids had a long weekend last weekend - they had both Monday and Tuesday off of school, so we decided to have some fun!  Anna had cross country in the morning, then we got lunches packed and ready to go before heading out to the State Fair.  We met up with Grandpa there and had a fun day checking out all the displays and the stuff.  We went to see the dog shows and the craft competitions.  The kids loved the dog show - though it was hot in the tent and Eileen wasn't crazy about the noise, but the dogs were impressive!  After, we went to the midway, and I let the kids each pick one ride to go on.  Part way through this long and painful process, the heavens opened and it POURED for about 10 minutes, after that it slowed to a light drizzle.  The kids still had fun though.  Anna and Evie did the bumper cars, Aaron got to ride a small roller coaster while getting soaked in the rain and Eileen and James went into the bubble house!  We got home late (for us) and tired, but we all had a great time.  Eileen and I are thinking about submitting something to the craft competitions next year!  I'm trying to convince Anna to submit a drawing since she is such an amazing artist, but I haven't managed to succeed yet. 

Tuesday, Anna also had Cross country in the morning, but she was exhausted after, so when the rest of us packed up to go to the zoo, she decided to stay home.  It was probably a good idea since she had a meet scheduled for the next day.  It rained/poured for the whole day, so we had fun hitting all the indoor areas of the zoo before heading home, we hardly saw anyone else there the whole day - there were only 4 other cars in the parking lot.  But we still had a fun time together.  We headed home a bit earlier than necessary since we had kinda run out of indoor stuff to do.  Then Evie and James had piano lessons and then in the evening, I had institute.  It was a great day!  Dan met up with his friend Jeff for dinner, so the kids and I had chipped beef on toast for dinner, and the I left Eileen and Anna in charge so I could go to institute. 

The house felt really quiet on Wednesday, but after two rather crazy days, I think David was glad for a quiet day at home.  We had a nice quiet day, it was still rather rainy, so we hung out inside and snuggled up together.  He took a nice long nap too.  In the evening, the girls had young womens and Dan went to a little birthday party for a guy in the ward. 

Thursday, we finally had a nice sunny day, so David decided that we needed to go for a walk.  He grabbed my hand and dragged me to the door out to the garage, then went and pointed and grunted at the garage door, telling me to open it, then he headed down the drive way.  He actually wore those cute sunglasses for the entire walk!  He had so much fun waving at all the people and animals and decorations that we passed.  We had this week off of choir for fall break. 

Friday, evening, Dan and I had a date night planned.  We were going to the Anna vs. Melissa high school football game.  We went and sat with the Gustavesons and Hendricksons, and we all had a fun time chatting and cheering and being a bit silly.  We weren't sure the game was going to happen since it poured most of the day, but it finally cleared up in the evening and it ended up being really nice! 

Saturday it was rainy again - so we spent a bunch of time cleaning up around the house, then Dan took most of the kids to the library and Anna and I got some work done for a little fall display for the mantle.  Then we got the kids dinner and Dan and I headed out to the temple.  We got there for the 6:30 session and had a wonderful time.  After, we stopped at Chuy's for dinner on our way home.  Eileen and Anna have been so great!  

Today was wonderful!  We all read scriptures together in the morning, then played some games and went on some walks.  Church was wonderful, it was fast Sunday and it was wonderful!  David was getting restless by Relief Society, so he and I ended up walking the hallway so he wouldn't be disruptive and destructive.  Our evening ended with games and me getting really tired... time for bed!  

Conference Weekend

Monday was a usual school day with Anna leaving early with Dan for cross country and seminary (respectively)  We had a fun evening, after dinner, we had a sweet sister from our ward over to join us for family home evening.  She brought a fun game called "Funny Bones" over to play with us.  We had a fun time laughing and playing together!  Anna and Dad were the clear winners!  

Tuesday was the normal - cross country and school.  After school, Evie and James had piano lessons with Sister Gustaveson.  They had a good time and I think they are eager to get going again - James made a point of telling her all about all the fun things Sister Hendrickson used to do with them.  Then in the evening, I had Institute - wonderful as always!  

Wednesday we finally got to do our first Cub Scout Activity.  I planned a welcome back activity that was meant to be fun and to help the boys learn the Scout Oath and Scout Law.  We knighted the boys and let them decorate shields.  Then we did our flag ceremony and introduced the boys to their leaders before sending the boys on their knightly quest for the holy grail.  I think they had a great time!  Aaron didn't get to go after he had been the inspiration for the activity - he had left that morning to go with his grade to Adventure Camp - the weather was great for it and he had a blast running around, learning, shooting a bow and arrow and eating lots of yummy food (at least that's how he tells it!)  Eileen and Anna also had a young women's activity that evening and had fun playing capture the flag at the park.  

Thursday, Anna had a cross country meet after school.  Dan and I both headed over to her run after a quick dinner.  They started early and we just missed it - but we got to see her finish and she did a GREAT job!  She cut another minute off her time!  Then, Dan took her home, and I went to choir.  I can't believe we are more than half way to the Christmas concerts!  

Friday after school, Eileen had to stay after school to play with the band at the football game.  All the 8th graders were playing the Anna fight song with the marching band.  Eileen wasn't excited about it, but she did it and did a great job.  Dan and I left Anna in charge and went to watch her and the football game.  High school football in Texas is NOTHING like high school football in California...  The half time shows were impressive and Dan and I had a fun time cheering the players on and being silly.  We would have stayed until the end, but Eileen was hungry (they fed them pizza - she hates pizza) and she was allowed to leave after half time.  

Saturday morning, we all got ready for conference, we made some 7-layer dip to enjoy during the sessions and got ourselves all comfy and ready to listen and learn.  Conference was AMAZING!  So much wonderful stuff!  I can't wait to start re-reading the talks.  Evie had a birthday party in the afternoon, but it was at a friends house just around the block.  Then in the evening, the girls and I all headed to the church for the general women's session.  It was all so wonderful! 

Sunday, we were ready for the rest of Conference.  We made monkey bread to have with breakfast and then got ready to learn!  My dad came up to watch the afternoon session with us and then have dinner.  Our eating habits this week haven't been very healthy, but it's been fun and we have learned so much! 

We spent the evening playing games and having fun together.  Dan got a fun new game on Saturday called 5 minute dungeon and we've been having fun playing it all weekend!  

Busy, Growing Kids

We had a fun and busy week.  Monday was laundry as usual, and after school in the evening, Evelyn had a Student Council meeting.  She is loving this whole student council thing!  It's so cute to watch her grow and thrive!  We had a great family home evening lesson on receiving revelation - we are preparing the family for General Conference! 

Tuesday was a usual day, cross country practice for Anna in the morning and school and fun at home with David.  In the evening, I had institute, it was a great lesson! 

Wednesday morning, Anna had chess club, then David had his doctor's appointment - he had his 15 month check up - he's growing big and he's so smart and funny.  He did a great job and didn't even cry when he got his shots!  yey for fruit snacks!  In the evening, Eileen and Anna had young women's.  Our cub scout starting got pushed back one more week - Aaron is bummed because he will be gone that week for his school's Adventure Camp. 

Thursday was a typical school day again - and in the evening, I had DMCO - it's so nice having it start a bit later so that I can still have dinner with the family.  It's a bit crazy getting home so late, but I tend to be a night owl anyway.  It's been awesome singing with this group! 

Friday after the kids got home from school, Dan and I had dinner with the kids, then headed down to the temple.  It was a wonderful evening - it's nice having David old enough and sleeping well enough that we can leave him home with Eileen and Anna in charge - it makes it so much easier to go!

Saturday, Anna had a cross country meet - she took a minute off her personal best - she is getting better each time - she's such a tough and determined girl!  We had a fun afternoon together as a family. 

Church on Sunday was wonderful - during the last hour, we talked about the upcoming General Conference and how we can make it an important part of our lives.

The Usual

Anna had team pictures on Monday morning with cross-country, so we had to switch up our morning drop off a bit.  Otherwise it was a normal morning.  David and I played and read and he wandered around the back yard checking everything out, then we both took naps. 

Evelyn ran for Student Council at her school and found out on Monday that she had been elected to Student Council!  She is so excited!  I am so proud of her!

For Family Home Evening, we had some friends over to play games and eat cake.  We had a fun time together and the kids had fun playing together too. 

Tuesday was the usual - cross country, school, naps and such.  In the evening, I went to institute - the teacher was really nice and brought a couple cakes for my birthday.  Yum!!   The lesson was wonderful and so was the cake! 

Wednesday was a busy day - instead of the usual church activities, we had a combined potluck activity with the other Melissa ward at the Melissa High School homecoming parade.  Dan and I took the kids and brought some food and ate and had fun chatting then headed home.  After, I took Anna out to get her some new pants. 

Thursday was a usual day - David and I didn't get to spend as much time outside, because it got rainy.  And while he would happily walk around outside in the rain, I wasn't that excited by the idea....  I had choir in the evening - rehearsals continue to be fun and challenging! 

Friday the heavens opened and it rained - a lot.  and it kept raining through Saturday.  Friday night, Dan and I went out on a date after dinner with the kids.  We went to go see Crazy Rich Asians together.  We slogged through a downpour on the way in and out, but the movie was really good!  We had a fun time together! 

Saturday, the kids were starting to go stir-crazy - they had been cooped up inside for too long!  Dan took the kids to the library while David napped and we mostly spent the day relaxing around the house and playing games and having fun together.  In the evening, Dan took Eileen and Anna to the temple while the other kids and I hung out at home and did a bit of cleaning and had dinner, then we played around until they got home for scriptures and prayers. 

If the kids were stir-crazy on Saturday, they were more so on Sunday - and next week isn't looking to be much better weather-wise.  We had fun playing games though and enjoyed being together.  Grandpa Cox came up to our ward today for church to watch the primary program - The kids did an excellent job!  James made some funny faces and I came to a rather sudden realization that Aaron is only 15 months away from being a Deacon...  He was looking way too grown up on the stand....  Church was wonderful - we had a great Sunday School lesson, then I took David and went to help out in Nursery.  He loves nursery - and we had a fun time.  Grandpa came home to have dinner and scriptures and prayers with us before heading home.  It's always nice getting to live near family! 

Birthdays Galore!

It's been a wonderful week.  This week was our first attempt at cooking for profit.  We have worked out a deal with Sandi and Jon where a couple times a week, we cook extra of what we are having and then I send their food down with Dan to work the next day for them to eat it for dinner.  It's been kinda fun so far this week - I sent Sandi a list of dinners we make so she can pick stuff she wants.  So far so good!  

This week was a regular busy week.  We had cross country and school and seminary in the mornings. David and I had some fun - he's been really excited about books lately, so we've been reading books together.  

Wednesday during the day, I had to head down to Allen to run some errands, so I met up with Dan for lunch after David's morning nap, then I went and got some shoes for choir and a bit of more fall-ish clothes for David - we still have hot days, but overall the weather is getting cooler.  

Our evenings are same as usual - Tuesday is Institute, Wednesday is youth activities and Thursday is choir.  

Friday was my birthday and it was wonderful!  Dan took the day off work to spend the day with me.  I mostly just wanted to be lazy around the house, so we played games and ate a yummy lunch, and I crocheted.  Dan gave me some amazing gifts, and made me a VERY yummy dinner of Chicken Tiki Masala and a yummy chocolate cake.  The kids were sweet and we had a fun evening together.  After the younger kids went to bed, we played Dominion with Aaron and Anna and Eileen.  Then when Aaron went to bed, I watched "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" with the girls.  It was a wonderful day!!  

Saturday morning, Anna had her first Cross Country meet.  She did a great job, but had some trouble with cramps by the end - she was so tough and kept going until the end though!  She was EXHAUSTED for the rest of the day.  We sent her to take a nap when we found her falling asleep at the table while eating lunch...  We didn't see her again until dinner time.  After dinner, we had some friends over for games and cake and ice cream.  (we had to find some way to finish off all the cake we have floating around with two birthdays this week!)  We had a fun time chatting and playing Scattergories!  

Today was Evelyn's 9th birthday.  I am so blessed to have this fun and spunky little girl in my life!  She does so much to help our family out!!  She wanted a Book of Mormon cake this year, so Anna made and decorated her cake for her.  Anna did an amazing job!  Around the outside it said "Happy Birthday Evelyn" and "9 years old."  Our Sabbath day was wonderful.  We did Evelyn's cake and ice cream and presents after lunch and she loved her presents.  Then after church, she got her birthday dinner - she wanted muffins, so we made lots of muffins.  :) 

Dan and I closed off the evening with a game of Phase 10 - but we had either totally forgotten the rules, they changed the rules, or we'd been playing wrong, because it was different in some ways that I remembered it...  maybe it's just been too long since we played...

Fall?

It's kinda crazy, but the weather this week has felt much more like fall in Texas - it's been rainier and cooler and the hot days have been fewer and further between.  Monday was Labor day and Dan and the kids all had the day off.  It was rather rainy and drizzly, and Eileen wanted to go to an aquarium, so we went to the Children's Aquarium and Fair Park.  The kids had a fun time - they LOVED getting to pet the sting rays.  James was looking at one of the big open water tanks and said "mommy!!  that looks like a shark!"  I said " James, that IS a shark!"  and he thought it was the coolest thing ever!  David really loved getting to look close up at all the fish and would point at the fish through the glass and make lots of happy noises.  It's not a huge aquarium (so it was reasonably priced!) so we stayed for a couple hours and headed home - but it was a fun family outing!

David loves helping with the dishwasher now - any time anyone is trying to do the dishes - he tries to help by stacking up the cups and putting the silverware inside them.

The week was mostly school as usual.  Cross Country for Anna, Seminary and work for Dan, school for the older kids and playing and singing songs for David and I.  David's new favorite book is "Hand Hand Fingers Thumb" mostly because he loves banging on things.  He is growing so much every day!  He loves to figure things out and copy his big siblings.  The girls had their Young Women's activity on Wednesday, Anna loves it, but we are still trying to convince Eileen to at least participate!

We've been thinking a bit about the possibility of home schooling Eileen, she doesn't feel like she learns much at school.  As part of thinking about that possibility, we've been talking to other's who homeschool, and looking at options.  We also emailed her teachers to see what they had to say about her.  All the feedback was positive and said that she got along well with people and did really well in classes and is a wonderful student.  It was kinda strange to us to see the differences in the way Eileen describes her school experience and that way the teachers described it.  It was obviously the same story, but told from very different viewpoints.  The school will be doing Beauty and the Beast later this year, and I'm trying to convince her to try out for Belle.  Her voiced concern was her ability to memorize lines - which Dan and I both found amusing since she memorizes movies by watching them just once or twice...

Thursday was my DMCO rehearsal.  It was raining as I headed down - it was kinda crazy, because on the way, I met a wall of rain - before it, the road was dry and it wasn't raining, then I drove into the storm and it was pouring.  Rehearsal was wonderful!  We got voiced after practice, which was so much fun!  I keep worrying that they will change their minds and put me on another part - but so far, I'm still a first soprano :)  It's been fun, and the arrangements and wonderful!

Friday, after school, we went to the Tolbert's for dinner. We had planned to meet at the lake, but once again it was rainy and so we had to move things to their house, but we still had a yummy dinner and had fun playing games.

Saturday was another drizzly rainy day.  The kids mostly didn't like Saturday since it involved a lot of cleaning the house, and the car and their rooms.  But we let them play on the switch for a bit while Dan and I went to the grocery store.  We are going to try something with Sandi and Jon's family where they pay us to cook for them.  So we needed to do our weekly shopping a bit earlier.  I'm kinda excited!

Sunday was wonderful - it is generally my favorite day of the week.  We had a nice morning of playing games, and crocheting, and taking a walk in the (finally) not rainy weather.  Dan pulled out a little rubber band shooter and found Evie and James and hunted down all the older people in the house - finally setting up a sneak attack on me from the top of the stairs.  They would shoot at me and hide under a blanket - then one of the kids would run down to collect the rubber band and try to look and act innocent doing it.  It was hilarious for me - but even more so for the kids who were giggling up a storm!  Then a yummy lunch and some nap time.  Church was wonderful!  David had other friends about his age in Relief Society today and he spent half the time running away from a cute little girl who wanted to hug him and hold his hand. :)  After church, we had a nice yummy dinner of waffles and then got the kids ready for bed before playing some games with Anna.  Then the girls went to bed and Dan and I played a game of Dominion.  Now it's time to head to bed and get ready for the coming week!

New Adventures

This week was full of new adventures, but it started off normal enough.  The kids had school and are mostly still enjoying it.  Eileen is still not crazy about school, so much so that Dan and I have actually started talking about homeschooling possibilities.  She is so bored in many of her classes that it seems like she could get a better education at home... I don't know, Dan and I aren't crazy about the idea, but we will see. 

Monday was a normal laundry and grocery shopping day.  School and fun with David.  But nothing too exciting.  Tuesday was the usual school stuff again, plus I got to go to institute in the evening. 

Wednesday Anna had the morning off for cross country, but otherwise the day was normal.  The girls had their young women's activity in the evening.  Evie has decided that she wants to run for student council, so we got her some poster board and she made up a bright rainbow poster and elections are next week. 

Thursday morning was Dan's first day teaching Seminary.  He said it went well and when I talked to the parent of one of his students, she had said that her son loved Dan's class.  He's going to be great with the kids!  The Relief Society had an activity where we met for lunch at a restaurant in the area.  It was fun and I had a great time chatting with some of the amazing ladies in our ward.   In the evening, I had my first practice with DMCO.  It was really fun to sing with the group.  The director is amazing and the music is wonderful!  It's a huge group compared to the other groups I've sung with.  I had a great time seeing old friends from Evening Song too!  It was so great to be back singing with a group of this caliber!  After, my voice was tired though! 

Friday was a usual school day and some fun together playing in the evening.  On Saturday, we headed down to my parents house after David's nap.  We were doing a combined birthday for all the recent and soon to happen birthdays.  We had cake and hamburgers and guac.  The kids had a blast swimming in the pool.  Dan forgot his swimsuit and just jumped in in his clothes, and the kids thought that was the craziest thing ever! 

Church today was wonderful.  We had a nice quiet morning playing games together, then the girls and I went to ward choir.  Fast and Testimony meeting was great!  And Dan took David so I could help out in Aaron's Sunday school class, so I got to enjoy the last 2 hours of church with out having to wrangle a baby.  In the evening, we had the sister missionaries over for dinner, it is wonderful to have them in our home!  Sister Liu laughed at our horrible Chinese, but she was sweet! We closed the evening with some games and chatting with Gene and Ann.  All in all it was a wonderful day - and now the kids are looking forward to their day off tomorrow!

Keeping Busy

Well with the kids at school all day, I've been finding ways to keep busy during the day.  Since David wants lots of attention, that's not hard to do!  Monday, I had a friend over for lunch while David napped.  It was really nice to chat with her and enjoy a yummy lunch!  In the evening, we had a family home evening lesson provided by Aaron on Prayer.  He did a great job, then we played some games.

David figured out how to open doors this week - or at least he finally figured he was tall enough to reach them.  He went in and out of the door over and over again - so proud of himself each time!  After, he got mad when ever he found a door that he couldn't open because it was locked or a different type of door.  

Tuesday morning, I went down to Frisco to get my hair cut.  Usually he does fine sitting with my mom while Kathy cuts my hair, but this week, he was having none of it!  He just wanted to sit and snuggle with me.  He screamed any time I tried to put him down or hand him off.  But he was sweet and quiet and still while he sat in my lap, so I left it be.  In the evening, I had institute - we had a great lesson on the beginnings of the Restoration.

Wednesday was a down day to recover for David - he really needed a good nap!  In the evening, Dan had Seminary kick off and the girls had a beehive activity.

Thursday, David and I went down to Allen to meet up with my Mom and Sandi for lunch.  We had a nice time together and David actually went down for a bit of a nap before we went to lunch, and then again when waiting to pick the kids up from school!  In the evening, Dan went to a meeting for Aaron's grade at school about their overnight trip at the end of the school year.  I was amazed at how quick they made the meeting - the ones that Quest did for the Cal-Wood trips were much longer and more tedious.

Friday was an easy going day.  We had dinner with the kids, then left Eileen and Anna in charge and went to the temple!  It was so nice getting to go with the ward and getting to do a session and Anna and Eileen did great!  After, we went to Chick-fil-a for ice cream and then headed home to the girls relaxing and watching tv.

Saturday morning, the girls and I went down to meet with Grandma and Aunt Sandi and Kai to get pedicures.  Then Anna and I took her trumpet down to drop it off to get fixed.  Then we ran by the grocery store before heading home.  Then we all headed out to the pool for a fun afternoon of swimming, then we did pizza for dinner and watched "Kung Fu Panda" after.  Eileen wanted a fruit salad with dinner, so we told her that if she wanted it, she could ride her bike to the grocery store and get what she needed to make it.  So she did!  After the younger kids went to bed, We watched "My Big Fat Greet Wedding" with the girls - they seemed to really like it.  We had a fun time together!  

This morning was nice and quiet - we played some games and made some cinnamon rolls and helped Dan get Seminary stuff ready, then got ready for church.  The talks in Sacrament meeting were wonderful.  What I heard of the Sunday School and Relief Society lessons were also wonderful - but David is at that stage, where he doesn't sit still - and while he's not loud (usually) he is distracting, so I usually end up roaming the halls with him and trying to keep him from taking things out of the garbage cans. 

Anna is doing cross country now - so she has practice early in the morning, She's burning crazy amounts of calories now so she eats a ton of food!  She really seems to be enjoying cross country though.  I think she is also really glad it's in the mornings so that it's not so hot.

Back to School

I can't believe that our Summer Vacation has come to an end - I immediately felt like my house was way too quiet and texted a friend and my mom and sister to see about doing lunch.  Our Monday and Tuesday ended up being pretty quiet - the kids mostly just wanted to spend their last days hanging out at home together.  We made Kay's tortellini soup for dinner on Tuesday and I've been enjoying the leftovers ever since!  The older three kids made the most out of their last few nights of staying up late and we have now gotten everything in order for school.  

Wednesday was the kids first day of school.  I sent dropped them off mostly excited about a new school year.  They came home excited and happy and liking their teachers and their classes (mostly - Eileen wasn't too happy about not having any classes with her friend, but at least we had gotten her schedule fixed so she was happy with the classes she had.)  The girls had a youth activity in the evening and it was over all a great day!  

So I had some fun taking pictures of David since he was my only kid at home during the day - I caught this cute one of David using a toy spoon to feed Koopa.  The rest I'm having a hard time getting off my phone... 

Thursday evening, we actually managed to get a volleyball group together again.  It was a ton of fun - I'm just sad that I probably won't get to go to many more of them since choir will we starting again soon!  I am really looking forward to choir, but I will miss volleyball nights. 

Friday I started a roast in the crock pot for pulled pork and we had some friends over for dinner and games!  They are a new family in our ward with a daughter close to Eileen's age and Eileen asked if we could invite them over.  They have just moved back from South Africa and it was neat to get to know them! 

When I picked the kids up from school on Friday - James' teacher came over to the car to tell me what a great kid James is and how he's a great leader!  He was beaming from ear to ear.  :) 

Anna had volleyball tryouts on Thursday and Friday.  She got cut on Friday :(  But she had a great attitude about it - she found out on Friday that Volleyball and Cross Country were at the same time and that she would have to choose one or the other, so she was actually glad when the choice was made for her. 

Saturday was a beautiful day!  We had a nice morning, Dan went to help a family in the ward with moving and I stayed home with the kids, then when we put David down for a nap, and Dan let me take a nap and took the rest of the kids to the library for a fun little fair they were having.  The kids had lots of fun - Eileen especially loved the snakes.  She and Aaron have been wanting pet snakes ever since...  They also had face painting and lots of other fun things to see and do. 

After, we all headed over to the pool to play for a couple hours.  The weather was hot and the cool pool felt wonderful!  Best of all - the kids got along well with hardly any arguing at all.  We all had a great time - then after a yummy dinner, we got the kids ready for bed and headed there too. 

Today was a nice day - a fun morning of playing games with the kids and some crocheting.  Church was wonderful - I even got to listen to a lot of the Relief Society lesson.  David has taken to being a bit of a distracting though so often, I end up in the halls walking around with him.  But what we did hear was wonderful!  The choir sang in Sacrament Meeting and it went well.  Thankfully we had more people show up than usual - over all it went really well!  It's kinda weird getting back into the kids having to go to bed earlier again routine - so we got the kids to bed for school tomorrow (Anna even chose to go to bed before her bedtime since she has cross country tomorrow morning) and played a game together.  (for the record - I smashed Dan)  :) 

Summer's Almost Over

Monday was rather crazy.  It was laundry day - and I got lots of help.  David thinks it's tons of fun to drag the laundry detergent all over the place.  We knew we weren't going to have much time for laundry in the evening, so I had the kids fold their laundry as the load finished.  I also needed to get the kitchen counters emptied off so that we could have room for all the canning things.  The Gustaveson's came over to have dinner and Family Home Evening and then can peaches with us!  We had a blast playing Secret Hitler together and canned a ton of peaches and had a great time.  

Tuesday, I needed to head to the middle school to get Eileen and Anna's schedules.  Eileen's ended up being all messed up, so hopefully we can get that fixed.  Then in the evening, Eileen and Anna were left in charge while Dan and I headed down to Allen for a company party.  We did bowling and some games and ate.  The bowling was fun - though I am a lousy bowler.  We had fun playing games, and got some candy with our tickets, then headed home and watched The Greatest Showman with the girls.  

Wednesday, we got the Elementary school kids registered and ready for school, then headed to the park for a bit.  They had fun - David loves the swing (even if it doesn't look like it from his face) Then in the evening, the girls had a Young Women's activity and Dan had a seminary meeting.

Eileen and Anna got up early on Thursday to go to the temple with some of the other Beehives.  When they got home, we headed down to the Tilton's house for Eileen and Anna's cake decoration class with Sister Tilton.  They had a great time and made some beautiful cakes!  While they decorated, I took the younger kids to a nearby splash pad.  They loved it - except David - it was just too crazy and noisy for him.

On Friday, we headed down to the zoo.  It was rainy and drizzly the whole time, but since that meant that it was cool and not crowded - it was really nice!  We got ponchos for the kids and they had a great time!

Saturday was more rain - all day!  In the morning, Dan took the kids to get school supplies.  In the afternoon, the kids and I had some fun jumping on the trampoline in the rain - we got soaked quickly, but it was lots of fun.

Aaron and Anna built themselves a massive train track all over the play room - but had a blast doing it, and most of the kids have been having lots of fun playing with it.

This morning, we had some fun playing some games - I won Ticket to Ride for the first time ever - then in the afternoon, we headed to church.  It was wonderful.  David is getting to the stage where he doesn't want to sit still or stay in one place, so we often end up pacing the halls so that he's not distracting everyone.  But what I do get to listen to is always wonderful!

Lots of Driving...

We've had a bit of a busy week this week.  Monday, I took the kids to the library, we got there and found out that they were playing a movie that had just started, so the kids and I went and watched "The Rescuers."   The kids enjoyed it and we had a fun afternoon together.  Otherwise, Monday was a normal day full of laundry and grocery shopping and the like.  

Tuesday was a mostly quiet day, David took a nice long nap!  Otherwise, we took it easy and got a bit of clean up done.  In the evening, I had institute which was great!  

Wednesday, Anna was scheduled for a doctor's visit for shots, but they called and said she was up to date, so that got cancelled.  In the evening, the girls had Young Women's activity.  It's been awesome to watch Anna get motivated to do her personal progress!  

Thursday we decided to exhaust ourselves.  We met up with Sandi and her kids and my Dad and went out on the boat. The kids mostly had a great time - Anna tried wakeboarding and Evie tried water skiing and both did a great job!  After, we took the kids home and got them dinner, then Dan and I left Eileen and Anna in charge and headed out for our anniversary date.  Dan took me to The Melting Pot where we both ate way too much food, but it was SO YUMMY!  We had a great time together.  I am so happy that I get to be married to him!  I can hardly believe it's been 16 years of marriage - I don't feel old enough for that!  

Friday was a hot and sunny day, so the kids went out and jumped on the trampoline with the sprinklers on for a bit.  Evie took David out for a bit of gently bouncing and he had a great time!  Friday morning, we headed out to what we thought was a pick your own peach place, but when we got there, it wasn't - so we bought their peaches so we had some for canning - but it was a long drive just to go buy peaches at a market.... it took an hour and a half to get there. 

Saturday Dan had a seminary training meeting, so most of the day felt like a regular week day.  When Dan got home, we took the afternoon and went to the pool.  We had plans to go to the Tilton's house, but Megan got sick, so we had to postpone.  :( 

Church today was wonderful.  Fast and testimony meeting was wonderful.  I got to enjoy a bit of Sunday school which was about Elijah, before I ended up in the hall with a cranky David.  The I ended up helping out in nursery for the last hour of church.  It was fun!  We spent a lot of time today playing games - and I managed to lose every game - pretty badly, so to help me feel better, Dan pulled out Mille Bornes - and true to form, I won.